John Krasinski says he misses his friends and the routine of The Office that gave him his start a decade ago.

"It's hard ... to not only let go of a show like that and a character like that, but to me - you know, I got the job when I was 23 years old," Krasinski, who played Jim, told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's an era of my life that I'm missing now."

Krasinski, accompanied by his wife, actress Emily Blunt, was in his home state of Massachusetts on Wednesday to host a fundraiser for the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Centre.

Krasinski said he would do another television show in a heartbeat. In the meantime, he plans to continue writing and producing and being part of the creative process.

Show business "has changed so much and there's so many different avenues you can go down, whether it is TV, film or now there's Internet content. There's all sorts of fun stuff to be part of," Krasinski said. "When you get to have control over what you do and who you are doing it with, it makes it the most fun, so I'll just keep doing that."

Krasinski has a role in the upcoming Pixar movie, Monsters University, and said it has enabled him to achieve what he never could on The Office - becoming super cool in the eyes of his nephews and niece.

He and fellow Massachusetts native Matt Damon also recently co-wrote and starred in the film Promised Land, a drama about hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, a technique to extract natural gas.

Damon's parents, Kent and Celeste Damon, were among those at the fundraiser in Boston.

Kent Damon is fighting multiple myeloma, an incurable form of cancer.

"I'm controlling it now," he said after greeting Krasinski and his wife. "I'm here because I want to support all efforts to find the cure."